by Jeff Salter
This year the local weather has been strange … even to me, who’s only been in this place (southeast KY) for about 5.5 years.
You see, for a total of some five decades, I lived in the South, including roughly 46 years in Louisiana. And Danica the Cajun Fox aptly described the state of LA summer in her post, here, yesterday.
What I’ve gotten used to (up here) is about four months of fierce winter – mid-Nov. to mid-Mar. – followed by some six weeks of mixed cold and cool temperatures. Then May warms slowly … but it doesn’t usually get hot until late-Jun. through August. Plus: the humidity NEVER reaches the average of 98% which I was used to in LA.
Well, THIS year has been haywire. Hardly any winter days which were really cold, relatively little snowfall … and an early Spring started in February! Yeah. The trees and bushes were blooming in Feb. Confused the heck out of some flora, but the poison ivy and briars didn’t skip a beat — they were thriving two months early!
My point?
So what was my point? Um … not sure really. Something about the weather being haywire. This year, we’ve had some warm mornings in March and cool mornings in May. Much of April was hot.
There have been beautiful blossoms all over (before the heavy rains beat them down) … and the trees in our farm woods very quickly ‘leafed-out’. But I fear our short, dis-jointed Spring is already over and summer will begin tomorrow. Good grief.
What was I thinking last year?
Here’s what I had to say about the season, last year, in this general time frame:
https://fourfoxesonehound.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/images-from-spring/
Armed Forces Day
Don’t forget: Saturday the 19th is Armed Forces Day. Celebrated on the third Saturday of May, Armed Forces Day was established in August, 1949. It replaced separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days, marking the unification of the Armed Forces under one Department — the Department of Defense. It’s a day set aside to honor all members of all American armed forces.
Questions:
How has YOUR Spring been so far?
What’s your weather been like?
Do you get MORE creative in spring … or less?
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
I’ll agree with you that this has been one of the strangest winters I can recall, and my memory goes back a few million years.
I never forget Armed Forces Day and I’m glad to see you listed the best branch first-GO ARMY
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LOL, Lindsay. If I listed the ground-pounders first, it was an oversight. I served in the U.S. Air Force. And sometimes I even remember a few words of the anthem. Ha.
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What spring? It’s late autumn here, and I’m freezing my tail off!
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Oh stop your whining, we all know you live down under
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Long Johns, Jeanne.
And you’ll be in shirt sleeves when we’re bundled up in parkas.
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I’ll be at the BEACH when you’re all bundled up in parkas! And yes, I’ve got long johns, leggings, and several layers on top, as well. But even though it doesn’t even get as cold here as it did in Texas, it just seems to seep right into your bones…
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I’ll bet it’s related to humidity
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I too live in KY (as you know) and I have thoroughly enjoyed the spring we are having. We didn’t have one snow day or big snow fall this year and it was GREAT!! I usually get all my writing done for the year in the winter b/c I’m inside so much and edit during the spring and get four books published throughout the year. This year, I’ve worked all through winter and spring b/c the weather. My writing mojo has been off a bit, but I’m still on schedule with production. It’s those dreary days that I like to escape, but we haven’t had any of those.
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Tonya, I believe you’re the most productive author I know. And I still don’t know how you do all lyou do PLUS work a job and tend to a large, hungry family. Not to mention the doggies. But anyway, I can’t seem to attach myself to a seasonal schedule, When I’m on fire with a ms., I can’t tear myself away from it. But that happens when it happens.
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Speaking of snow days, Tonya — our local grandkids had (I believe) 16 snow days during the previous winter. But this winter we just breezed through: they only closed for 1 or 2 snow days and it wasn’t even bad in the area where we live.
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Here in Southeast Texas, we have two seasons; Summer and Extreme Summer. LOL!
We generally have mild winters, which is still too cold for me. The gloom and overcast skies of our ‘winter’ dampens my spirit and slows creativity. I’m most creative with bright warm sunny days.
Someday, I will live in the tropics. That is my dream. To live in the tropics. Oh, and to be, well, rich. I want to live comfortably in the tropics. HAHAHA!
Jenn!
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Funny thing, Jenn, about the cold weather up here in KY. It may be 30 degrees colder than most of the winter weather I was used to in LA, but without the southern humidity the cold seems easier to ‘take’. At least for me. Well, until the wind starts blowing. Ha.
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Native Floridian here. The one bad thing about mild winters is how much of the spring I spend worrying about hurricanes. I prefer the warmer weather. Heck, I’ll even say it. I like it HOT! I like things associated with hot weather. Summer. Vacation. Beach. Ice cream trucks driving through the neighborhood. Flip flops. Music festivals in the park. It’s just more fun.
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How do ya feel about skeeters, Micki?
I’ve never lived in FLA, but have visited numerous times. I seem to recall almost as many skeeters as in LA.
Not nearly as bad in KY as in the south … though we certainly have our share here.
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The more warm days, the better! Yes, it’s been weird. From the outdoor lover’s perspective, the only thing bad about so few hard freezes is that the mosquitos are already fierce. Headed to the Gulf tomorrow. Forecast? Hot. Humid. And tattoos.
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Oh, Chris, I see you’d already picked up on the skeeters aspect that I just mentioned.
You’re in north ALA, aren’t you? Well, that’s practically Tenn. !
So, who’s getting the tattoo?
Where?
Pix
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Ah–I’m only speaking of the overall experience. The beach demands lots of exposed skin, so it’s quite the place to view skin art. It appears that EVERYONE already got inked!
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ah, yes — skin art.
You know, it amazes me how many people I see with tattoos … large & small. And I’m only seeing what shows with their clothes ON. Ha.
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The weather has been really strange here in Michigan too! We had eighty degree weather in March, so I expected a really warm April and May. It hasn’t been, but wow! What a strange beginning! 🙂
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Which part of Mich., Lisa? Upper penninsula?
I lived in Chicago for about 2 years when I was a toddler. Don’t remember much. But I do remember being cold and walking past snow which was taller than I was!
I also lived in Iowa for one year. it was quite cold there, but they were properly prepared for it and the roads were cleared quickly.
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In SoCal, they’ve been calling our weather, “May Gray.” Usually, we have June Gloom, and there’s very little sunshine in June. It’s overcast and cloudy in the mornings and burns off around 3 p.m. But, that started earlier this year. Our hottest months are actually August-September.
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Louisa, for most of a year, I lived in Sacramento — ‘Middle’ Calif., I suppose it would be considered — and I remember a rainy season where it rained nearly every single day for sev. weeks. Hated it. I know it wasn’t summer, because we didn’t arrive til Aug and left before June.
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Definitely. It’s rained almost every time that I’ve visited San Francisco. People thin SoCal = sunny, but it’s not always that way. The key is that we’re temperate, most of the year.
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When we lived in Sacto, we visited Frisco sev. times. If it was sunny and short-sleeves in Sacto, we’d need jackets in Frisco on the same day. It was always 15-20 degrees cooler near the bay.
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Well, I really enjoyed Winter. No really hard freezes and weather consistently in the 40’s and 50’s… But as a weather-noob I don’t know if that points to a possibly hot spring and summer. I think it’s been hard to complain about the weather here in Louisville lately.
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Welcome, John. I’m surprised it was as moderate in Louisville, since we often saw storms on the weather ch. radar which were presumably heading for us, but often swept around us toward the NE. I figured L’ville took the brunt of many.
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Oh yeah, we’ve had our share of storms. A lot of hail and severe weather. Temperatures have been moderate though. To be honest I don’t mind the storms unless it causes damage. It tends to bring some random excitement when there’s severe weather. Being in the insurance business though, it creates a lot of work for me when we have extreme wind or hail. I’m enjoying your posts, keep up the good work!
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John, I can well imagine that weather — along with things such as earthquakes — would keep you on your toes constantly. You’ve probably dealt with everything except maybe tidal waves …
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You bet. Right now hail is the peril-du-jour. My manager and a few of my insured’s actually had their cars totalled by hail damage. Outside my house the hail got to be about marble-sized, but stopped just short of doing damage thankfully.
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In Shreveport area, where I lived for many years, the new car dealers finally got smart and installed a series of heavy ‘umbrella’ rigs under which they always parked their new cars. Not only protected them from hail, but from the harsh sunshine … in case they spent sev. months on the lot.
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Weird Weather all over. We had about 4 cold days. Not enough to kill the bugs, so we’re in for it.
Happy armed forces day early.
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Yeah, the bugs will have a wonderful warm season this year. We already have ticks like crazy.
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It has been a strange weather year. However, since we are in the midst of a wonderful stretch of nice, warm, sunshiney weather, I’m not going to complain. 🙂 Good luck with that summer of yours.
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I can’t complain about the warm sunshine either, Laurie. Last couple of mornings have been cool — mid 60s or so. I’ll be wishing for that during August. Ha.
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In one of your replys, you describe how because you live in Kentucky you now experience colder winters, but that they so not seem as cold. That is exactly what we have said about winters here in Rhode Island. People talk about high humidity here, but compared to Louisiana there is no humidity at all. I do believe that 40 degrees in Louisiana feels like 30 degrees here and vice versa. As we have not lived here for two full years yet, this was just my second spring to experience in R.I. Spring arrived about two to three weeks earlier than normal. Blithwold Mansion and Gardens has Daffodil Days each spring and they had to hold them about 3 weeks early this year. Thanks to the equinox, summer doesn’t officially arrive until about June 21st. In Louisiana, Summer arrives in about April. Here in Rhode Island, summer usually arrives in about the 3rd week of June. Until you still might have to wear long sleeves in the evening and keep a blanket or quilt to add to your bed cover. Rhode Island is very beautiful in all of the seasons, but spring it is especially beautiful. Flowers grow quite profuse here! When you contrast that to all of the blue water from the bay and the ocean, it is so gorgeous!
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Vivid descriptions, Sug.
Yes, when people — here in KY — whine about “high humidity” I just smile … because I know what it’s like to walk from the parking lot to my office in Shreveport and be soaked with sweat.
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